Turn up the volume — it sounds so pretty!Normally, this is a dry creek bed.Today, it's a babbling brook.Note where Poco is standing.

Mr. Prissy Feet leapt over it like a gazelle,when he saw I had cookies.

Poco wasn't buying it.But I had all the time in the worldand was wearing muck boots.I walked back and forth across the water.I let him smell the cookie.I let him touch it with his nose.But he had to walk across the waterin order to eat the cookie.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

I learned on Sunday that I lost a friend that I never got the chance to actually meet. Sigrid "Sig" Ricco of Knight Creek Farm, Clayton, NY, passed away in her sleep February 2nd. She was 58.

I met Sig on the Happy Appy Yahoo forum, the same place I met my friend and mentor, Heather. Sig was very active in ApHC and App politics. She always had a kind and encouraging word, sometimes emailing me privately to pass along some of her considerable knowledge or an extra word of encouragement. There were plenty of people early on who told me I should get rid of Poco, but not Sig. She celebrated my small victories and gave me useful advice when I needed it most.

Sig bred foundation Appaloosas with more modern bloodlines, and created some beautiful horses in the process. She strongly believed in responsible breeding, only producing stock that was HYPP or Herda N/N, and she only bred one foal every 1-1.5 years. Before I knew what any of that meant, I knew her horses were special. I've often thought that if money were no object, I'd love to have one of Sig's horses.I have the pleasure of knowing several that live at the farm: